Hospitals turn away visitors with flu symptoms

People who wish to visit loved ones in the hospital take heed: At some medical centers, a cough or a sneeze will probably get you turned away.

As public health officials struggle to contain the spread of influenza, pertussis and norovirus, a growing number of hospitals around the country are placing restrictions on visitors to protect their patients from infection. Hospitals in at least 10 states have asked visitors with flulike symptoms not to visit patients. Some are placing outright bans on children and teenagers, fearing they may be most likely to infect patients.

Most hospitals, though, are also making exceptions — for instance, in cases where a loved one is critically or terminally ill.

Hospitals in Boston, the first place in the country to declare a flu emergency last week, were among the first to start asking visitors with signs of illness to wear masks and avoid certain wards.

On Monday, several hospitals in Western Michigan asked anyone with a fever, cough, runny nose or other signs of the flu to refrain from visiting. Jersey City Medical Center said that any visitor under age 18 or with signs of flulike illness will not be allowed to see patients. And four hospitals in the Peoria, Ill., area said that they would start enforcing new guidelines barring children and would allow staff to ask anyone who coughs or sneezes in the patient-care area to leave. The hospitals said they were following guidelines by the state department of public health.

“More than anything, we’re just trying to keep the environment safe for patients,” said Dr. Ryan Walsh, the medical director for employee health at Methodist Medical Center in Peoria.

Dr. Walsh said that the hospital was not motivated by any particular incident, but by the rate of flu activity in the area. At this time last year, Methodist Medical Center had seen eight confirmed cases of flu in its emergency room. The number of confirmed cases so far this year is up to 68.

Dr. Walsh said that notices of new restrictions were posted around the hospital and at its entrance, and that so far there had not been any problems. He predicted the restrictions would remain in place until March.

“Most people have been cooperative,” he said. “And for those people who are sick that have critically ill family members, they’ve been very cooperative about wearing masks and washing their hands.”

At Albany Medical Center in New York, teenagers are allowed but children under age 12 and anyone else with “respiratory symptoms” are not, said Dr. Dennis McKenna, the hospital medical director. Dr. McKenna said that the hospital was following a regional plan that was developed in 2009 in response to the H1N1 epidemic, and that seven other hospitals in the Albany area had also instituted the restrictions, which will remain in place until the volume and severity of flu cases return to normal levels.

“The thought is that if you’re under the age of 12, you’re more likely to be somebody who could pass the disease or a viral infection to someone,” he said. “They don’t wash their hands. They don’t have very good hand-hygiene etiquette.”

But exceptions were being made.

“If there was a family member who was dying, we would make an exception to have a child be available if that was the family’s wishes,” he said. “We’re not going to draw such a hard line for situations that are in need of a family presence.”

Last modified: January 15, 2013
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